Santa Fe area law-enforcement agencies will be out in force tonight , searching for New Year's Eve revelers who drink too much alcohol before climbing behind the wheel.

And authorities say enforcement efforts, along with awareness campaigns and tougher laws, appear to be having some impact. Statistics show the number of DWI-related fatalities and crashes have decreased both statewide and in Santa Fe County during the last five years.

"The totality of everything we're doing — not just locally but statewide — is working," said Sgt. Joe McLaughlin, who heads the Santa Fe County Sheriff's Department's DWI enforcement team.

McLaughlin, who has worked with the DWI-enforcement team for the past seven years, said that when he first began participating in checkpoints, officers would have to shut them down midway through the planned shift because every officer involved was busy dealing with a drunken driver.

Recently, he said, the number of intoxicated drivers nabbed at checkpoints "is a lot less." If police and sheriff's deputies catch three drunken drivers at a checkpoint now, McLaughlin said, that's a high number.

Sgt. Dale Lettenberger, who supervises the Santa Fe Police Department's DWI enforcement team, agreed. City officers have encountered a lot of intoxicated people riding in cars stopped at checkpoints of late, but more often than not, the driver is sober.

Rachel O'Connor, New Mexico's DWI czar, pointed to the state's decreasing number of DWI-related fatalities — which can include drivers, passengers and pedestrians — as evidence that efforts begun since 2004 are working.

The state registered 219 alcohol-related fatalities in 2004, she said. So far in 2008 — through Dec. 30 — 128 people have been killed in DWI-related crashes statewide, said O'Connor, who expects the number to increase a bit once final year-end statistics are tabulated.

The number of DWI-related crashes involving injuries in Santa Fe County dropped from 377 in 2004 to 246 in 2007, according to statistics furnished by O'Connor. The number of crashes in the county involving serious injuries dropped from 116 in 2004 to 65 in 2007, she said.

However, crashes involving suspected drunken drivers continue to make headlines.

The most recent high-profile case happened the day before Thanksgiving, when a lawyer who used to work for U.S. Rep. Tom Udall, D-N.M., and U.S. Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., hit a 46-year-old San Felipe Pueblo man who was walking across Guadalupe Street near downtown Santa Fe. Carlos Fierro, 36, fled the scene and was later found to have a blood alcohol content of .21, more than twice the legal driving limit. William Tenorio, a father of three, died of his injuries.

In April, a 40-year-old Santo Domingo Pueblo man shot out of the K-Mart parking lot in his vehicle onto St. Michael's Drive and struck a car carrying Lobsang Lhalungpa, 82, and his wife. Lhalungpa, a Tibetan monk who had been honored as one of Santa Fe's Living Treasures, died the next day of his injuries. Roque Lucero earlier this month pleaded not guilty to vehicular homicide.

Santa Fe resident Marvin Garcia died Jan. 1 after an allegedly drunk military police officer from Kirtland Air Force Base ran a red light in Albuquerque and struck Garcia's truck. Garcia's girlfriend, Josephine Laweka of Cochiti Pueblo, also was killed in the crash. Micah Henry, the driver, allegedly had been out drinking on New Year's Eve, police said at the time.

Because New Year's Eve is known as a drinking holiday, officers and deputies from the city Police Department, the county Sheriff's Office and the New Mexico State Police will have extra units on the streets, spokesmen for the agencies said this week.

The city department has canceled days off for patrol officers and will have additional manpower available if needed, Deputy Police Chief Benjie Montaño said. The Sheriff's Office and state police officers plan to conduct DWI saturation patrols. Lt. Eric Garcia of the state police said his agency may set up checkpoints in Española and Santa Fe.

For those who need a ride home from a bar tonight, Santa Fe County's taxpayer-supported CADDy program offers a discounted cab ride home. The ride must be to or from a residence or hotel and not to another bar, said Rebecca Beardsley, DWI program coordinator.

The cost is $5 for one or two people and $10 for three or more. The service runs from 5:30 p.m. to 2:30 a.m., she said. The program, which can be reached at 995-9528, normally runs during those hours every Friday and Saturday night. You can also call Capital City Cab's direct line at 438-0000 and then tell the driver upfront that you want the CADDy rate.

If you live outside Santa Fe proper, the fare meter starts running at the normal rate once you leave the municipal boundary.

Also, AAA New Mexico will offer its Tipsy Tow program in Santa Fe between 6 p.m. on New Year's Eve and 11:59 p.m. New Year's Day. Callers to 800-222-4357 (800-AAA-HELP) during that period can request a free, one-way ride home from a bar or other alcohol-serving business for one or two people who shouldn't be driving as long as the ride is less than 10 miles from the pickup point.

Contact Jason Auslander at 986-3076 or :jauslander@sfnewmexican.com.

Number of fatal DWI-related crashes in New Mexico:

2004: 219

2005: 194

2006: 191

2007: 177

2008: 128

Number of DWI-related crashes involving injuries in Santa Fe County:

2004: 377

2007: 246

Number of DWI-related crashes in Santa Fe County involving serious injuries:

2004: 116

2007: 65

New Mexico in 2007 ranked 18th in the country for DWI-related fatalities per 100,000 motor vehicle miles driven, and ninth for DWI-related fatalities per 100,000 population.